


Christmas

by LeeGale



Series: Tokyo Heroes [8]
Category: Death Note (Anime & Manga), Tokyo Ghoul
Genre: AU, Alternate Universe - Superheroes/Superpowers, Christmas, Fluff and Angst, Gen, Implied/Referenced Suicide, M/M, Murder, Omega Verse, not as dark as it seems
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-09
Updated: 2020-05-09
Packaged: 2021-03-03 05:15:16
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,008
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24089491
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LeeGale/pseuds/LeeGale
Summary: Christmas rolls around, secrets are revealed and memories are thought about...
Relationships: L/Yagami Light
Series: Tokyo Heroes [8]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1691059
Comments: 2
Kudos: 5





	Christmas

Christmas morning was... an affair, in the Kaneki household. Since none of them could sleep late on a normal day, they were all bound to be up even earlier. And they were, all waking up before it had even turned six-thirty. When they did all wake up, however, they didn't go straight to opening presents, as much as the girls wanted to. Instead, Kaneki insisted they ate breakfast first.  
"But Ken..." Annushka whined, watching Kaneki make something she couldn't see in a bowl, "It's Christmas!"  
"Just because it's Christmas does not mean you get to skip breakfast," Kaneki said patiently, smirking slightly when both of his daughters groaned. Looking over his shoulder at them, his smirk became a soft smile, and he spoke again, "I'm making chocolate pancakes. With mixed chocolate chips."  
That made the girls cheer up, both grinning at the idea. Kaneki rolled his eyes and focused on the pancake batter, calling over his shoulder, "Oh, we're going to see Leon and the others for dinner. Don't forget."  
"Really?" Annushka gasped, grinning when Kaneki confirmed it, "Yes! Are we giving them their presents then?"  
"Yep!" Kaneki replied, starting to make the first pancake. Annushka and Liliya beamed at each other, excited to go see their friends before starting to chat about how they thought the others would react to their gifts. Kaneki smiled at them, letting the ambience of the morning wash over him...  
A little while later, the trio were sat in the living room, the girls on the couch and Kaneki sat by the tree. The teens were practically bouncing with excitement as Kaneki handed them a present each, grabbing his own before focusing on Annushka.  
"Youngest first," he said, smiling fondly when the small teen tore the wrapping paper from her present. The small, pleased gasp she released made Kaneki smirk as she carefully inspected her present.  
"Is... Is this a pansexual pride accessory set?" she whispered reverently, squealing when Kaneki nodded. Carefully laying the set on the seat next to her, she looked ready to give Kaneki a big hug, but he cut her off before she could.  
"Wait until everyone's presents are unwrapped for hugs," he stated, earning a small groan from Annushka as he focused on Liliya and spoke to her, "You're next!"  
The taller girl hesitated before unwrapping her present, much more carefully than her sister. The sweet smiled that tugged at her lips as she examined the t-shirt in front of her was adorable, and Kaneki knew he'd made a good choice when he'd designed it (it had been a special order, and he'd created the design on it himself before sending it off to be made into a t-shirt). Continuing to smile, she tugged the t-shirt on over her bed top, turning so Annushka could read the writing on it.  
"'I love my pan dad and sis'? Really, Ken? And in the pan flag colours?" Annushka laughed slightly, shaking her head fondly as Kaneki sent her a cheeky smirk. Liliya laughed quietly too, watching as Annushka ordered Kaneki to open his present. He did, rolling his eyes at Annushka before frowning slightly at what he unwrapped. He checked the name tag to see who it was from before looking over at Liliya. She was fidgeting, visibly uncomfortable as she closely watched Kaneki for his reaction. He looked down at the t-shirt before tugging it on, smiling brightly at his dau- child, as the t-shirt said.  
"I love my genderfluid child, huh?" he asked, smiling reassuringly as he quoted the words on the top. Liliya shrugged, shrinking in on herself, and muttering a quiet, 'I hope you do', to which Kaneki responded to with a firm, "Of course I do! Which pronouns do you prefer, and do you have a new name? If you're not sure yet, though, that's completely okay!"  
Liliya blinked in surprise before smiling slightly, relaxing as she replied, "I... They/them, unless I specifically say otherwise, and I don't know what name to choose yet..."  
Kaneki and Annushka smiled brightly at he- them, both saying it was okay and thanking them for coming out. They smiled back brightly, and Kaneki spoke up.  
"What are your pronouns currently?" he asked, and Liliya blinked in surprise (probably not expecting Kaneki to be so cool with using their pronouns) before grinning.  
"He/him, right now..." the teen replied, and Kaneki nodded.  
"Alright! Since you haven't figured out what name you want, do you have a nickname you'd prefer?" he asked, careful to keep his voice steady and not pressuring. Liliya seemed to hesitate before muttering a quiet 'I'm not sure'. Kaneki assured her -him that that was okay, and that he didn't need to rush, and asked him to say if his pronouns changed. The teen nodded, smiling, so Kaneki suggested they continued opening their presents...  
-=-=-=-=-=  
Later that day, the trio arrived at L's tower wearing a couple of their gifts each. Kaneki had changed from his PJs into a nice pair of jeans Annushka had gotten him (they had a snake on them! On the left leg, it slithered from the cuff, twisting around his leg, and to his back pocket!), the genderfluid top Liliya had given him and the pansexual converse trainers the girls had gotten him. Liliya wore the pan top Kaneki had gotten him, a pair of jeans that matched Kaneki's (Annushka had made them all matching pairs!) and a maroon leather jacket Kaneki had gotten him that had a silver chain on the back. And Annushka... Well, she'd gone all out. She'd added several pan pins to the faded blue denim jacket Kaneki had decorated for her (which had a painted knife dripping with blood on the back), which she wore over the black hoodie Liliya had got her, which was on top of one of the Ace Detective tops she'd wanted to get for L, Matt and that lot (Kaneki had picked one up for her and Liliya so they could all match), along with her pair of snake jeans and a pair of black, leather ankle boots that Kaneki had gotten her. They looked like quite the group...  
Watari blinked in surprise when he let them in, especially when he saw Kaneki's top, but just smiled slightly. He greeted them kindly, leading them to where everyone else was waiting. Since most of the people attending dinner lived in the tower, the trio were the last ones to arrive (the only other person who was attending and didn't live at the tower was Light, who had actually stayed over the previous night, supposedly for work...), thus were greeted by the sight of their friends lounging around in the living room. When they arrived, L waved from where he was sat on Light's lap, sitting normally for once (although, it was literally the only way he'd sit like that. He didn't feel comfortable sitting when on his own, but something about sitting on Light's lap, with the alpha's arms around him? That was really nice...), before he blinked in surprise at Kaneki's top. He seemed to examine the trio before smiling slightly.  
"What are you're pronouns currently, Liliya?" he asked, and the teen raised an eyebrow. He hesitated before muttering a quiet 'he/him', and L nodded. No one else spoke for a moment, but Watari eventually piped up.  
"I haven't started on dinner yet, so we have time to open presents before eating," he stated, causing everyone to perk up. He rolled his eyes fondly before leading them all over to the tree. Once there, everyone settled nearby, with Watari being the closest. Kaneki, Liliya and Annushka handed him the bags they'd brought with everyone's presents, smiling slightly before sitting down. Soft Western Christmas music flowed through the room as Watari handed out one present each, everyone passing them to each other until they held one each. Everyone except Light shared a look before nodding, tearing the gifts open. The alpha seemed to hesitate before copying the others, but Kaneki was too distracted by what he revealed to pay attention properly. His focus was on the absolutely stunning picture frame in his lap. The frame itself was gorgeous - silver and ornate, with snakes intertwined with dragon and flowers, small details made more obvious by black detailing. But it was the pictures inside of the frame that made Kaneki breathless...  
There were six pictures in total. Six, of all different pinnacles of Kaneki's life. Six, each so different but so important...  
The first, in the top left corner, was the first picture Kaneki had ever been in at Wammy's orphanage. It was a pretty stereotypical picture, in a way. Just a group of people stood in front of the orphanage gates... But it was the people in the picture that got to Kaneki. Rue at age 17, an arm around L, who was the same age. Alister (also 17), on L's other side, L's arm around him. Watari, standing behind them all with a small smile. Will -one of the other boys, and the sight of him made Kaneki ache...-, shyly hiding behind Rue, but smiling. Matt and Mello (both 12 and 13 respectively) standing close together, Matt looking uncomfortable (probably because he was forced to be outside for the photo) and Mello scowling. Near them, holding a blanket that half covered his face, a six-year-old Near stood. And at the front of the group, small, scarred, bruised, but smiling slightly, was Kaneki himself... The photo brought back so many memories that Kaneki had to focus on the next one, so he wouldn't start to cry.  
Not that that one was any better. It was taken maybe a year after the first, and it was a candid shot of a rare calm day at Wammy's. Watari, L and Rue hadn't been there, since they were working (it was a case in Paris, Kaneki could vaguely remember. He and Matt had been jokingly complaining about how much lovey-dovey stuff Watari must have been suffering through since L and Rue had gotten together the day before the trip), but Ms Midoriya (the woman Kaneki had gotten a job at the orphanage for after Porpora's was shut down) had been there and took the pic. In it, Kaneki lay on the floor, fast asleep. His head was resting in Li Na's lap -she was a sweet girl, maybe a couple of months younger then Kaneki. She'd been so kind, so gentle... Until Rue killed her, that is- and his feet were in Mello's lap. Matt was curled up against one of his sides, Near was on top of him, and his other side was occupied by his then-boyfriend, Abayomi, or Abe for short. They'd been so close... Until Abe found he'd been unable to keep up with the pressure of being C and pulled away from everyone, isolating himself slowly but surely in the prelude to his suicide... Around the main group, other kids were sat comfortably, and the TV seemed to be playing Tom and Jerry. Kaneki could remember that day. It had been so peaceful...  
He moved on, forcing back tears as he looked at the third pic. It was of his last day at the orphanage, back when he was 14. That day, Hide's parents officially adopted him, and he moved back to Japan. It had been bittersweet, a time to move on but to also remember. It'd hurt so much to leave, but Kaneki had known he needed to. He'd known that he wasn't meant to be the next L or Watari, and that he'd hate becoming some sort of child celebrity. He'd known he'd needed to return to Japan... But it had hurt so bad. The picture Watari had chosen for the gift wasn't even the worst of the ones Kaneki knew he had. It brought back painful memories, looking at that photo. It was the last time Kaneki saw Li Na, Alister, Jemma and Will alive... In the photo, he was being hugged by those four, as well as L, Rue, Matt, Mello, Near and Watari. That was back before Rue decided he needed to kill for L's attention, before Alister, Jemma and Will crumpled under the pressure of taking up the mantle of L, before Mello started to hate Near... It was back when things were simpler... Kaneki remained silent, holding back tears as he moved onto the next photo.  
This one was taken when he was 15 and visiting the orphanage for Rue's birthday. It was also the last time Rue was actually nice to him... Kaneki had actually been the one to take that pic. In it, Rue was blowing out the candle on his cake, L watching with a genuine smile. The love radiating off of the then-twenty-year-old... It was painful, now that Rue was dead. Especially considering Kaneki still blamed himself for it... But L had Light now, so he was doing better. Surrounding the couple, there was a small crowd, even if there were some obvious gaps... Matt and Mello stood on one side of L, smiling at Rue, and Near was on the omega's other side, gripping L's sleeve. He was only nine at the time and struggled with his own emotions and such, and since he'd been the one to find Alister just a couple days before... Still, he was trying to smile for Rue's sake. Surrounding them were all of the other living kids. Li Na, Jackie, Martha, Dylan, everyone... And behind the birthday boy, Watari stood, smiling fondly. The sight of his family made Kaneki's eyesight blur, but he rubbed his eyes until he could see before moving to the fifth photo.  
This one... It was the saddest. It was the first photo taken at the orphanage after Rue was arrested. It had taken a year for anyone to be willing to take a pic... In it, the group was smaller than ever before. Most of the kids at the orphanage knew that it was an important picture so hadn't tried to intervene. But ignoring that, the group was so much smaller than it had been when Kaneki first joined. Back then, there'd been Rue, Li Na, Abe, Will, Alister, Sophie, Katya, Jemma, Yuriko... One of them was in jail, three had committed suicide, and the other five had all been murdered by Rue. All that was left was L (who was so much skinnier, paler, gaunter than he had been in the previous photo), Matt (who was forcing a smile in an attempt to hide his pain), Mello (who had decided to hate Near just a few months prior, so was glaring at the eleven-year-old with pure contempt), Near (who was sucking on a lollypop and acting like he wasn't hurt by Mello's loathing), Watari (who looked on the edge of a breakdown. He'd lost so many of his children in a little over two years...), Kaneki (who was visibly barely holding himself together) and Liliya and Annushka. Despite everything, the youngest two seemed to be the happiest. Although, they hadn't lost as much as the others... The sense of loss Kaneki was overwhelmed with at the photo almost forced a sob from him but he shoved that down as he looked at the sixth and final picture.  
It was... the happiest of them all, Kaneki thought, in a way. It was one Watari had taken at L's most recent birthday, his 25th. In truth, the sense of loss was palpable in the picture too. After Rue's death... L hadn't celebrated his birthday without Rue there since he was six, so of course it hurt. Even when Rue was in jail, L had always set aside some of the day to see the alpha. But it was the first time he couldn't do that... However, there was a certain lightness to the photo. Everyone seemed... less burdened as they grinned into the camera, curled up into one big pile on a couch. Sure, some of the smiles were forced, but... it seemed like there was hope...  
Kaneki didn't realise his tears were falling until Annushka asked if he was okay. Sniffling and rubbing his eyes, the alpha forced himself to smile as he replied with a quiet, "Yeah. I just... These pictures bring back a lot of memories. Some good, some bad, a lot painful..."  
"What-" Matt cut himself off when he saw the photos, a chocked noise escaping him. He stared at the frame before looking over at Watari, eyes a little glazed, and spoke in a strained voice, "I... Why ya gotta hurt us like this?"  
Watari smiled slightly, a little melancholic, as he replied, "Ken does love to have any of our old pics I can give him."  
Kaneki made a noise of agreement, already focused back on the picture frame. The feeling of loss that flooded him... It wasn't as strong as it had been when they'd taken the last picture, but it still caused his heart to ache before he shoved his feelings into a box. Despite how sad the picture made him, he truly loved the present. He told Watari as much, smiling slightly when his father figure sent him the gentlest of smiles he'd received in years before suggesting the continued to open their presents. Watari agreed and handed everyone another one as Kaneki carefully made sure his pictures were safe on a shelf. Once he returned to his spot, he opened the next present, laughing slightly when he saw what it was. Checking who it was from, he tilted his head and raised an eyebrow at Matt.  
"A 'how to confess' book? Really?" he asked, voice nothing short of amused. Matt grinned cheekily, shrugging, so Kaneki rolled his eyes and laughed as he continued, "You know, I'm not the only one that needs to confess to their mate..."  
Matt's cheeks flushed slightly, and Kaneki laughed again. Everyone else laughed too, smiling fondly.  
In the soft warmth of the room, surrounded by music, laughter and love, Kaneki felt truly at peace...


End file.
